E-mail terminal automatically converting character string of reception e-mail, and e-mail system

ABSTRACT

An electronic mail terminal includes a display section, a conversion dictionary which stores sets of a character string and a pictograph, a receiving section and a control section. The conversion dictionary stores sets of a character string and a pictograph. The receiving section receives an electric mail including a sentence as a conversion object sentence in a reception mode. The control section automatically refers to the character string-pictograph conversion dictionary based on each of character strings of the conversion object sentence in the reception mode to retrieve a specific pictograph corresponding to the character string, when the pictograph corresponding to the character string is registered in the character string-pictograph conversion dictionary. Then, the control section converts the character string into the specific pictograph to produce a pictograph mixed sentence, and controls the display section to display the pictograph mixed sentence.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/727,679, filed Dec. 1, 2000, in the name of Shinichiro IWATA, andentitled “E-mail Terminal Automatically Converting Character String ofReception E-mail, and E-mail System”.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] 1. Field of the Invention

[0003] The present invention relates to an electronic mail terminal witha character string converting function and an electronic mail system.

[0004] 2. Description of the Related Art

[0005] Recent years, a portable phone terminal is provided for a datatransmission function in addition to a telephone function. Thetransmission and reception of an electronic mail is possible betweensuch portable phone terminals by use of the data transmission functionof the portable phone terminal. For this reason, in the portable phoneterminal, it is generally made possible to input not only alphanumericcharacters but also Japanese characters including Kanji characters. Inthis way, an advanced function is requested for character input andcharacter display, while the portable phone terminal is requested tohave a small size and a light weight. Therefore, it is an important keyto create a sentence efficiently with few keys and also to display thesentence efficiently in a small display space.

[0006] Conventionally, a method of using a pictograph called an icon hasbeen generally used in such a situation. For example, a pictographassociated with a bicycle is used when the character string of “bicycle”is to be inputted. This allows the creation of a sentence to be madeeasy without change the intention of the sentence, so that a displayarea can be saved. Such a technique is disclosed in Japanese Laid OpenPatent Application (JP-A-Heisei 6-96056) as a first conventional examplewhich describes a sentence creating technique using a pictograph. In thefirst conventional example, it is supposed that the Japanese sentence of(“Harenara tenisuwo siyou”; “Let's play tennis, if whether is fine” inEnglish) is inputted by a user and a pictograph conversion isInstructed. In this case, morpheme analysis is carried out to divide theJapanese sentence into the character strings of “(hare)”, “(nara)”,“(tenisu)”, “(wo)”, and “(siyou)”. Then, a pictograph dictionary is usedwhich stores a correspondence relation between phonetic expression andthe pictograph of the Japanese character string. The pictographdictionary is searched based on the character strings to retrievepictographs corresponding to the character strings of “hare” and“tenisu”. In this case, if there are a plurality of pictographcandidates for a single Japanese character string, the pictographcandidates are displayed for the user. The user selects one of thedisplayed pictograph candidates.

[0007] By the way, an electronic mail system between the portable phoneterminals has been conventionally constructed. However, in recent years,it has become possible to connect the portable phone terminal to theInternet based on the standard of WAP (Wireless Application Protocol),so that an electronic mail which is sent on the Internet can be directlyreceived by the portable phone terminal.

[0008] However, in the access to the Internet electronic mail by theportable phone terminal, there are following problems.

[0009] As the first problem, visibility is not good when the Internetelectronic mail is displayed. As mentioned above, the pictographs areused in the conventional electronic mail transmission and receptionbetween the portable phone terminals. However, no countermeasure isgenerally taken in the Internet electronic mail. That is, the electronicmail including pictographs cannot be sent. Therefore, when a longInternet electronic mail is displayed on a small display area of theportable phone terminal, a screen switching operation is required toswitch the screens.

[0010] As the second problem, the whole sentence of an electronic mailsometimes can not be received when the long Internet electronic mail isreceived by the portable phone terminal. The reason is that the maximumelectronic mail length is determined in the portable phone terminalelectronic mail system, and a part of the electronic mail exceeding themaximum electronic mail length is not possible to be received by theportable phone terminal.

[0011] In conjunction with the above description, a communicationssystem and a digital communication terminal are disclosed in JapaneseLaid Open Patent Application (JP-A-Heisei 10-98544). In this reference,a control unit (22) adds an originator number or various messages, whichare inputted from a key input section (21) to a sub-address data whichshould be transmitted to a terminal on the side of reception onoriginating call. Also, the control unit (22) adds a code to the head ofthe data to identify a classification of the data. Next, a transmittingand receiving section (10) and a communication control section (11)transmit the above sub-address data to the terminal on the side ofreception on the originating call. On the other hand, in call arrival, areception sub address recognizing section (15) receives the sub-addressdata, which is transmitted from the terminal on the side oftransmission. The control unit (22) starts up a free characterconverting section (16), a fixed form sentence converting section (17),a pictograph converting section (18), and an originator numberconverting section (19) based on the code added to the sub-address data,and decodes the received data. The decoded data such as the originatornumber and the various messages are displayed on a display section. Inthis way, a message notice function and an originator number noticefunction can be realized between the different kinds of communicationssystems.

[0012] Also, an image processing apparatus is disclosed in Japanese LaidOpen Patent Application (JP-A-Heisei 9-325958). In this reference, acharacter string before conversion is displayed in a display area (905)of a conversion screen, and a character string after the conversion isdisplayed in a display area (906). These character strings are displayedin units of rows character by character. A character string of “ ” isspecified and a pictograph converting button (1202) is clicked. At thattime, pictographs corresponding to the string are carried to arrangementpositions of the pictographs by a hamster CH1. The pictograph CH2corresponding to the character string of “ ” before the conversion iscarried out above of the character of “ ”. Then, the character of “ ” isdeleted from the screen.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0013] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide anelectronic mail terminal, in which a character string such as a word ofa sentence of an electronic mail can be automatically converted into apictograph.

[0014] Another object of the present invention is to provide anelectronic mail terminal, in which a character string of a sentence of atransmission electronic mail can be automatically converted into apictograph, even if it is the transmission electronic mail is createdwithout using any pictographs.

[0015] Still another object of the present invention is to provide anelectronic mail terminal, in which a character string of a sentence of areception electronic mail can be automatically converted into apictograph.

[0016] Yet still another object of the present invention is to providean electronic mail terminal, in which meaning of a pictograph can bedisplayed, when a character string of a sentence of an electronic mailcan be converted into the pictograph.

[0017] It is also an object of the present invention to provide anelectronic mail system, in which a character string of a sentence of atransmission electronic mail can be automatically converted into apictograph, even if it is the transmission electronic mail is createdwithout using any pictographs.

[0018] In order to achieve an aspect of the present invention, anelectronic mail terminal includes a display section, a conversiondictionary which stores sets of a character string and a pictograph, areceiving section and a control section. The conversion dictionarystores sets of a character string and a pictograph. The receivingsection receives an electric mail including a sentence as a conversionobject sentence in a reception mode. The control section automaticallyrefers to the conversion dictionary based on each of character stringsof the conversion object sentence in the reception mode to retrieve aspecific pictograph corresponding to the character string, when thepictograph corresponding to the character string is registered in theconversion dictionary. Then, the control section converts the characterstring into the specific pictograph to produce a pictograph mixedsentence, and controls the display section to display the pictographmixed sentence.

[0019] Here, one of the pictographs of the displayed pictograph mixedsentence may be specified. At this time, the control section may referto the conversion dictionary based on the specified pictograph in thereception mode to retrieve the character string corresponding to thespecified pictograph, and control the display section to display theretrieved character string. In this case, the control section maycontrol the display section to display the pictograph mixed sentence andthe retrieved character string at a same time.

[0020] Also, the electronic mail terminal may further include an inputsection used to input a sentence in a transmission mode. At this time,the control section may refer to the conversion dictionary based on aspecified one of character strings of the inputted sentence in thetransmission mode to retrieve a specific pictograph corresponding to thespecified character string, when the pictograph corresponding to thespecified character string is registered in the conversion dictionary.Then, the control section converts the specified character string intothe specific pictograph to produce a pictograph mixed inputted sentence,and controls the display section to display the pictograph mixedinputted sentence. In this case, the electronic mail terminal mayfurther include a transmitting section which transmits a transmissionelectronic mail in the transmission mode in response to a transmitinstruction. The control section regards the pictograph mixed inputtedsentence as the transmission electric mail and issues the transmitinstruction.

[0021] Also, when the inputted sentence is a Kana sentence, and theconversion dictionary stores sets of a Kana character string and a Kanjicharacter string, the control section refers to the conversiondictionary based on each of specified ones of Kana character strings ofthe inputted sentence in the transmission mode to converts the specifiedcharacter string into Kanji characters to produce a Kanji convertedsentence, and regards the Kanji converted sentence as the inputtedsentence.

[0022] In another aspect of the present invention, a method ofdisplaying an electronic mail, is attained by receiving an electric mailincluding a sentence as a conversion object sentence in a receptionmode; by automatically converts each of character string into apictograph in the reception mode to produce a pictograph mixed sentencewhen the pictograph corresponding to the character string is defined;and by displaying the pictograph mixed sentence.

[0023] In this case, the method may further include: specifying one ofthe pictographs of the displayed pictograph mixed sentence; determininga specific character string corresponding to the specified pictograph;and displaying the specific character string. In this case, thepictograph mixed sentence and the specific character string may bedisplayed at a same time.

[0024] Also, the method may further include: inputting a sentence in atransmission mode; converting a specified one of character strings ofthe inputted sentence a specific pictograph corresponding to thespecified character string, to produce a pictograph mixed inputtedsentence; and displaying the pictograph mixed inputted sentence.

[0025] Also, the method may further include: transmitting the pictographmixed inputted sentence in the transmission mode.

[0026] Also, the method may be attained by converting each of specifiedones of Kana character strings of the inputted sentence into Kanjicharacters in the transmission mode, when the inputted sentence is aKana sentence,

[0027] In order to achieve still another aspect of the presentinvention, an electronic mail relaying apparatus include a conversiondictionary, a receiving section, a transmitting section and a controlsection. The conversion dictionary stores sets of a character string anda pictograph. The receiving section receives a reception electric mailincluding a sentence. The control section automatically refers to theconversion dictionary based on each of character strings of the sentenceof the reception electric mail to retrieve a specific pictographcorresponding to the character string, when the pictograph correspondingto the character string is registered in the conversion dictionary. Thenthe control section converts the character string into the specificpictograph to produce the transmission electric mail, and controls thetransmitting section to transmit the transmission electronic mail.

[0028] In order to achieve yet still another aspect of the presentinvention, an electronic mail apparatus includes a conversiondictionary, an input section and a control section. The conversiondictionary stores sets of codes of a first expression format and codesof a second expression format, a code length of the first expressionformat codes being longer than that of the second expression formatcodes. The input section inputs an electric mail including a firstsentence composed of sequences of the first expression format codes. Thecontrol section automatically refers to the conversion dictionary basedon each of the sequences of the first expression format codes of thefirst sentence to retrieve a specific sequence of the second expressionformat codes, and converts the sequence of the first expression formatcodes into the specific sequence of the second expression format codesto produce a converted sentence.

[0029] Also, the electronic mail apparatus may further include an outputsection. In this case, the control section controls the output sectionto output an electronic mail including the converted sentence.

[0030] Also, when the input section inputs an electric mail including asecond sentence composed of the sequences of first expression formatcodes and the sequences of second expression format codes, the controlsection automatically refers to the conversion dictionary based on eachof the sequences of second expression format codes of the secondsentence to retrieve a specific sequence of the first expression formatcodes, and converts the sequence of the second expression format codesinto the specific sequence of first expression format codes to producean original sentence. Also, when the electronic mail apparatus furtherincludes a display section, the control section may control the displaysection to display the original sentence.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0031]FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the hardware structure of anelectronic mail terminal according to the first embodiment of thepresent invention;

[0032]FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing the electronic mailterminal according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

[0033]FIGS. 3A and 3B are a diagram showing an example of font data andan inner structure example of a display section;

[0034]FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a structure example of a Kana-Kanjiconversion dictionary;

[0035]FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing an operation example at aKanji-Pictograph converting section;

[0036]FIG. 6 Is a flow chart showing a reception electronic maildisplaying operation example of the electronic mail control section;

[0037]FIGS. 7A to 7C are diagrams showing a specific example of theoperation of the Kanji-Pictograph converting section;

[0038]FIGS. 8A and 8B are diagrams showing an example of a displayscreen of a reception electronic mail;

[0039]FIG. 9 is a block diagram of the second embodiment of the presentinvention; and

[0040]FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing an example of a pictographconverting mechanism provided for a mail server.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0041] Next, an electronic mail terminal of the present invention willbe described below in detail with reference to the attached drawings.

[0042]FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the structure of a portablephone terminal with the electronic mail function as the electronic mailterminal according to the first embodiment of the present invention.Referring to FIG. 1, the portable phone terminal with the electronicmail function is composed of, as the hardware structure, a CPU 1, a ROM2 connected with a bus 14, a RAM 3 used as a work area, a radio controlsection 4, an LCD controller 6, a key matrix control section 8, a speechinput section 11, a speech output section 13, a radio section 5connected with a radio control section 4, an LCD 7 connected with an LCDcontroller 6, numeric keys 9 connected with a key matrix control section8, a microphone 10 connected with the speech input section 11, and aspeaker 12 connected with the speech output section 13.

[0043] Various programs to operate the portable phone terminal, aKana-Kanji conversion dictionary and a font data table are stored in theROM 2. The CPU 1 controls each of the sections of the portable phoneterminal in accordance with the programs stored in the ROM 2 to allowthe terminal to function as the portable phone terminal with theelectronic mail function. The functional block of the portable phoneterminal realized by the hardware and the software is shown in FIG. 2.

[0044] Referring to FIG. 2, the portable phone terminal with theelectronic mail function in this embodiment is composed of, as afunctional blocks, an input section 21, a speech input/output section22, a display section 23, a communication section 24, a telephonecontrol section 25, an electronic mail control section 26, a Kana-Kanjiconverting section 27, a Kanji-Pictograph converting section 28 and acharacter string-pictograph conversion table 33. It should be noted that29 denotes a Kana-Kanji conversion dictionary stored in the ROM 2.

[0045] The input section 21 is a functional block, which is realized bythe key matrix control section 8, the numeric keys 9 and the programs.In the input section 21, the key operated on the numeric keys 9 isdetected by the key matrix control section 8 and the detected keyoperation is notified to the CPU 1 in the form of an interrupt signal.The input section 21 is used to input various instructions and data bythe user. A switching operation of whether the portable phone terminalis used as a portable phone or as an electronic mail terminal can beselected, and a dial number and a call originating instruction can beinputted when the portable phone terminal is used as the portable phoneterminal. Also, transmission and reception instructions and a mailaddress and electronic mail sentences are inputted when the portablephone terminal is used as the electronic mail apparatus.

[0046] The speech input/output section 22 is a functional block which isrealized by the microphone 10, the speech input section 11, the speaker12, and the speech output section 13, and is mainly used at the time ofthe portable phone terminal. The speech input section 11 contains anamplifier, which amplifies an inputted speech signal from the microphone10, and an analog-to-digital converter, which converts the amplifiedspeech signal into a digital signal. The speech output section 13contains a digital-to-analog converter, which converts a digital speechsignal outputted from the CPU 1 into an analog signal, and an amplifier,which amplifies the analog signal.

[0047] The communication section 24 is a functional block, which isrealized by the radio control section 4, the radio section 5 and theprograms, and is used at the time of communication with anothertelephone using a portable phone network, and at the time of theInternet connection. The radio control section 4 carries out the controlof communications protocols, and the radio section 5 contains amodulator, demodulator and a transmission and reception antenna.

[0048] The display section 23 is a functional block which is realized bythe LCD controller 6, the LCD 7, a font data table (not shown) stored inthe ROM 2 and the programs, and is used for the display of the dialnumber in the use as the portable phone and the display of a receptionelectronic mail in the use as the electronic mail terminal. An exampleof the font data and the internal structure example of the displaysection 23 are shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B.

[0049] The LCD controller 6 basically has only the function to controlthe LCD 7 to display a dot on a specified position. Therefore, font dataas shown in FIG. 3A is used to display a character. The font data isprepared as a bit pattern in which a display required dot is “1” and adisplay not-required dot is “0” when a character is expressed in asquare lattice as shown in FIG. 3A. The font data is a display bitpattern of the character itself so that an amount of data is large.Also, the font data to the same character are different depending on thestructure of the display section. Thus, the compatibility between thefond data is low. Therefore, the character is managed in the form of acharacter code, when the character is manipulated in a case other thanthe display.

[0050] For example, as shown in FIG. 3A, the character code of “IWA”(rock in English) is predetermined to be “8AE2”. Thus, the charactercode of “8AE2” can be recognized as the character of “IWA” in anyapparatuses. In case of the display of the character on the displaysection 23, a display requesting source designates the character codeand the display position data to output to the font data convertingsection 31. The font data converting section 31 is realized by theprogram, which is stored in the ROM 2. The font data converting section31 refers to the font data table based on the character code to read outcorresponding font data and display position data, and outputs a displayrequest with the font data and the display position data to the LCDcontroller 6. The LCD controller 6 controls the LCD 7 in accordance withthe display request to display the character pattern of “IWA” on the LCD7. Like the character of “IWA”, various pictographs are managed by useof the character codes and the font data.

[0051] The telephone control section 25 is a functional block, which isrealized by the program, and is connected with the input section 21, thespeech input/output section 22, the display section 23 and thecommunication section 24. The telephone control section 25 carries outthe controls of general functions of the portable phone such as thetransmission control and the reception control.

[0052] The electronic mail control section 26 is a functional block,which is realized by the program, and is connected with the inputsection 21, the display section 23, the communication section 24, theKana-Kanji converting section 27 and the Kanji-Pictograph convertingsection 28. The electronic mail control section 26 carries out thecontrol of general functions relating to the transmission and receptionof an electronic mail.

[0053] The Kana-Kanji converting section 27 is a functional block, whichis realized by the program. The Kana-Kanji converting section 27 has afunction to refer to the Kana-Kanji conversion dictionary 29 to convertKana characters inputted from input section 21 into kanji characters. Anexample of the Kana-Kanji conversion dictionary 29 is shown in FIG. 4.

[0054] Referring to FIG. 4, the Kana-Kanji conversion dictionary 29 ismainly composed of two kinds of tables of a phonetic table 41 and a wordtable 42.

[0055] The phonetic table 41 stores a set of records for a predeterminedphonetic expression. One record corresponding to the phonetic expressionis composed of a set of phonetic data 41-1 and a pointer (address) P1 toP5. The pointer points the address of a record corresponding to thephonetic expression in the word table 42. A separator code (Sep) dividesthe phonetic data 41-1 and the pointer.

[0056] The word table 42 stores a set of records for every word. Onerecord corresponding to a word is composed of a set of word data 42-1and pictograph data 42-2 corresponding to the word. A separator code(Sep) divides into the word data 42-1 and the pictograph data 42-1. Thepictograph data 42-1 is previously written with a code of thepictograph, when the pictograph corresponding to the word exists, and iswritten with a NULL value (shown by “−” in FIG. 4), when thecorresponding pictograph does not exist.

[0057] For example, it is supposed that the Kana character string of“kouen” is inputted from the user through the input section 21 and theKana-Kanji conversion is instructed. The Kana-Kanji converting section27 searches a phonetic table 41 for the records having the phoneticexpression of “kouen”. Then, the word table is searched based on thefirst pointer so that the Kanji character string of “ ” (“kouen”; “park”in English) is determined as a candidate. Thus, the Kanji characterstring of “ ” is displayed on the display section 23 for the user. Whenthis Kanji character string of “ ” is not the candidate which the userwants, the Kanji character string of “ ” ( “kouen”; “lecture” inEnglish) which is stored in the address pointed by the second pointer P2in response to the operation of the user operation is displayed as thenext candidate. Hereinafter, similarly, “ ” (“kouen”; “support” inEnglish), “ ” (“kouen”; “performance” in English), and “ ” (“kouen”;“good performances” in English) are appropriately displayed, and theuser can select a desired candidate.

[0058] Also, it is supposed that the phonetic expression of “kouen” isinputted from the user through the input section 21 and theKana-pictograph conversion is instructed. In this case, the recordshaving the phonetic expression of “kouen” are searched from the phonetictable 41. Then, the pictograph of “ ” (“kouen”; “park” in English)stored in the record of the word table 42 which is pointed by the firstpointer P1 of one of the searched records is displayed on the displaysection as a candidate for the user. When this candidate is not thecandidate which the user wants, the next candidate is displayed, as inthe Kana-Kanji conversion. However, in case of FIG. 4, only thepictograph of “ ” is stored in the word table 42 as the pictographcorresponding to the phonetic expression of “kouen”. Therefore, thedisplay of the next candidate is not carried out. It should be notedthat a plurality of pictographs corresponding to the single phoneticexpression might be displayed at a time so that the user can selects oneof the plurality of pictographs.

[0059] By using the Kana-Kanji converting section 27 having the abovementioned function, the user creates an electronic mail sentenceincluding the Kanji character strings and an electronic mail sentenceincluding pictographs and can transmit the electronic mail to anotherportable terminal through the electronic mail control section 26.

[0060] On the other hand, the Kanji-Pictograph converting section 28receives the sentence of the received electronic mail from theelectronic mail control section 26. Then, the Kanji-Pictographconverting section 28 refers to the Kana-Kanji conversion dictionary 29based on the word (character string) of the electronic mail sentence,automatically substitutes a pictograph for the word and sends thesubstituted sentence back to the electronic mail control section 26. Theabove-mentioned Kana-Kanji converting section 27 converts “phoneticexpression” into the pictograph but the Kanji-Pictograph convertingsection 28 converts the word in the electronic mail sentence into thepictograph directly without converting the word into the phoneticexpression. More specifically, the word table 42 of FIG. 4 is searchedusing the word to be substituted of the electronic mail sentence as akey to retrieve the pictograph. An example of the processing is shown inFIG. 5. It should be noted that it is presupposed that an EOF (End OfFile) code is stored as the last character of the electronic mailtransferred from the electronic mail control section 26. In other words,the EOF code is stored as the eleventh character if the sentence iscomposed of the total number of characters of “10”.

[0061] Referring to FIG. 5, at first, a variable i indicative of acharacter position is initialized to “1” and a variable j indicative ofa word character length is initialized to “0” (steps S1 and S2).Subsequently, a determination is carried out to see whether or not theword starting with the character which exists on the character positioni is registered on the word table 42 (step S3). When the word is notregistered, the character, i.e., the character at the character positioni is outputted just as it is. Also, the character position variable i isincremented by one (step S10). Then, when the next character is not thelast character EOF (step S9), the control flow returns to the initialprocedure.

[0062] When the word starting with the character on the characterposition i is registered on the word table 42, the word length j isincremented by one (step s4). Then, a determination is carried out tosee whether the word composed of characters on the character positions ito i+j is registered on the word table 42 (step S5). For example, whenthe fourth character is (“ten”; “sky” or “heaven” in English) and thefifth character is “ ” (“ki”; “feeling” or “look” in English), and i isfour and j is one, it is determined whether or not the word of “ ”(“tenki”; “weather” in English) is registered on the word table 42. Whenthe word of “ ” is not registered, the characters on the characterpositions i to i+j−1 are outputted just as it is. Also, the charactervariable is set to the character position of i+j (step S11). If the nextcharacter is not the last character EOF (step S9), the control flowreturns to the first procedure. In other words, the characters of theword determined at the step S5 other than the last character areoutputted and the same procedure is started from the last character onceagain.

[0063] Next, it is determined whether or not the above-mentioned word isunique in the word table 42 (step S6). This means to determine whetheror not a word composed of the word of “ ” in the above-mentioned exampleand characters following the word of “ ” is registered on the word table42. Only, if the word is not unique, the control flow returns to thestep S4, and the word length variable j is incremented by one to repeatthe same procedure once again.

[0064] When the above-mentioned word is unique in the word table 42, itis determined whether or not the word has a pictograph in the word table42 (step S7). When the word has the pictograph, the pictograph isoutputted together with the character positions i and i+j (step S8). Thecharacter positions are outputted. When the word does not have thepictograph, the word is outputted just as it is (step S12). When settingthe character position variable is set to i+j+1 in either case (steps S8and S12). When the next character is not the last character EOF (stepS9), the control flow returns to the initial procedure. In other words,the same procedure is repeated once again from the character next to theoutputted word.

[0065] When the character of character position i is determined to bethe EOF code in the step S9, the processing is ended at the point.

[0066] Next, the operation of the portable phone terminal with theelectronic mail function in this embodiment having the above mentionedstructure will be described. It should be noted that the operation whenthe portable phone terminal is used as the portable phone, and theoperation when the portable phone terminal is used as the electronicmail apparatus are same as those of the conventional portable phoneterminal with the electronic mail function. Therefore, a displayingoperation of a reception electronic mail which is one feature of thisembodiment will be described in detail.

[0067] For example, it is supposed that the Internet electronic mail isreceived by the communication section 24 through a portable phonenetwork in response to an operation of the input section 21 by the user.In this case, the electronic mail control section 26 starts a receptionelectronic mail displaying process as shown in FIG. 6. First, theelectronic mail sentence of the reception electronic mail is transferredto the Kanji-Pictograph converting section 28 to substitute pictographsfor words in the electronic mail sentence (step S21). The operation ofthe Kanji-Pictograph converting section 28 in this case is alreadydescribed with reference to FIG. 5. Then, the substituted electronicmail sentences and the position data of the word before the substitutionfor every pictograph are returned to the electronic mail control section26. The electronic mail control section 26 transfers the returnedelectronic mail sentences and the returned display positions to thedisplay section 23 such that the returned electronic mail sentences aredisplayed on a predetermined area of the LCD 7 (step S22).

[0068] After that, every time the pictograph in the displayed electronicmail sentences is pointed from the user by a pointing means such as acursor (step S23). the electronic mail control section 26 supplies theword before the substitution corresponding to the pointed pictograph andthe display positions of the word to display section 23 such that theelectronic mail sentences including the word is displayed in anotherarea of the LCD 7 (step S24). Then, when a display end instruction issupplied from the input section 21 (step S25), the process of FIG. 6 isended. It should be noted that the word before the substitutioncorresponding to the pictograph is the word of the electronic mailsentences before the substitution which is specified by the characterposition data which is returned from the Kanji-Pictograph convertingsection 28 at the step S8 of FIG. 5 together with the pictograph.

[0069] Hereinafter, a specific example of the displaying method ofreception electronic mail will be described.

[0070] For example, it is supposed that the electronic mail of “ ”(Kyouha haredattanode jitensyaninotte kouennhe ikimasita”; “I went to apark on a bicycle since it was fine today” in English) is received, asshown in FIG. 7A. When the reception electronic mail is transferred fromthe electronic mail control section 26, the Kanji-Pictograph convertingsection 28 refers to the word table 42 to words in the electronic mailsentence into the pictographs. FIG. 7B shows a list of words of the wordtable 42 which are coincident with the words of the electronic mailsentence. The word of “ ” (“kyou”; “today” in English) is unique in theword table 42 but the pictograph is not defined or registered.Therefore, the word of “ ” is outputted just as it is. Subsequently,because the word of “ ” (“wa” ) is not present in the word table 42, theword of “ ” is outputted just as it is. Similarly, the words of “ ”(“tenki”) and “ ” (“ga”) are outputted just as they are for the samereason. The word of “ ” (“hare”; “fine” in English) is uniquely presentin the word table 42, and a pictograph is defined. Therefore, thepictograph is outputted in place of the word of “ ”. Hereinafter, byfollowing the procedure of FIG. 5, three words of “ ” (“jitensya”;“bicycle” in English), and “ ” (“kouen”; “park” in English) areconverted into the pictographs, as shown in FIG. 7C.

[0071] The electronic mail control section 26 controls the displaysection to display the electronic mail sentence which is converted bythe Kanji-Pictograph converting section 28, in a predetermined displayarea 71 of the LCD 7, as shown in FIG. 8A. At this point of time, acursor 73 is located on not the pictograph but a character portion.Therefore, “meaning:” is only displayed in a display area 72 which isprovided in a lower portion of the display area 71.

[0072] Next, when the cursor 73 is moved onto the pictograph whichexpresses the bicycle by the user as shown in FIG. 8B, the electronicmail control section 26 determines the word of “ ” before the conversionbased on the character position data and the reception electronic mailsentence which have been outputted from the Kanji-Pictograph convertingsection 28 together with the pictograph of the bicycle. Then, the wordof “ ” is displayed in the display area 72, as shown in FIG. 8B. Thisoperation allows the user to easily recognize the meaning of thedisplayed pictograph, even if the user cannot recognize the meaning ofthe pictograph.

[0073] As mentioned above, the contents of an electronic mail is easy tounderstand when the electronic mail is read even if a display area isnarrow. The reason is that the words are converted into the pictographsin case of display of the electronic mail so that the characters in thewhole sentence can be decreased. Therefore, more data can be displayedin the narrow display area.

[0074] Also, the original sentence can be immediately referred to incase of pictograph display. The reason is that the original word beforethe conversion can be displayed when the user moves the cursor to theposition of the pictograph in the display state of the convertedelectronic mail.

[0075] Also, it is not necessary to newly prepare a correspondence tableof the word and the pictograph. The reason is that the conversion orsubstitution is realized by diverting the Kana-kanji conversiondictionary and by adding a pictograph to the word table.

[0076] It should be noted that in this embodiment, a word of thereception electronic mail sentence is always converted into a pictographand displayed, when the pictograph corresponding to the word isregistered. However, a flag may be provided in the electronic mailcontrol section 26 to switch an effective state and invalid state of thepictograph converting function. In this case, only when this flag is setby the user to make the pictograph converting function effective, theword of the reception electronic mail sentence is automaticallyconverted into the pictograph and displayed. Also, when the pictographconverting function is made invalid, the reception electronic mailsentence is displayed just as it is.

[0077] Also, as the word table, which stores the correspondence relationof the word and the pictograph, the Kana-Kanji conversion dictionary isused. However, the word table of exclusive use may be used. In thiscase, it is sufficient for only the words corresponding to the existingpictographs to be present in the word table.

[0078] Also, the word before the substitution corresponding to thepictograph specified by the cursor is determined from the originalelectronic mail sentence and the position data obtained in theconverting process in the Kanji-Pictograph converting section 28.However, the record of the word table 42 is searched using thepictograph specified by the cursor as a key, to determine a word beforethe conversion.

[0079] Also, in this embodiment, the present invention is applied to theportable phone terminal with the electronic mail function. However, thepresent invention is possible to widely apply to the apparatus which hasan electronic mail function.

[0080] In addition, a sentence inputted from the input section andcomposed of codes of a first expression format is subjected to thepictograph conversion to have codes of a second expression format. Then,the sentence including the pictographs is transmitted. On the receptionend, the pictographs may be automatically returned to the charactercodes of the first expression format. In this case, the mail length tobe transmitted can be shortened.

[0081] In the first embodiment, the conversion from the word into thepictograph is carried out on the side of the terminal. However, in thesecond embodiment, the conversion is carried out in a mail server 91,which is provided in a portable phone network 90, as shown in FIG. 9. Anelectronic mail destined to a portable phone terminal 92 with theelectronic mail function which is sent via the Internet 93 isaccumulated in the mail server 91. The electronic mail which is storedin the mail server 91 is downloaded on the portable phone terminal 92and is displayed. Therefore, if a word is converted into a pictograph inthe mail server 91 before the download, the converting operation shownin the flow chart of FIG. 5 on the side of portable phone terminal 92becomes unnecessary.

[0082] An example of the pictograph convert mechanism which is providedfor the mail server 91 is shown in FIG. 10. A file apparatus 100accumulates electronic mails destined to the portable phone terminal andsent via the Internet 93. A word table 101 is the table which storescorrespondence relation of the word and the pictograph. AKanji-Pictograph converting section 102 refers to the word table 101 toautomatically convert words in the electronic mail sentence which isaccumulated in the file apparatus 100 into the pictographs, in the samemethod as that of the Kanji-Pictograph converting section 28 of FIG. 2.The conversion may be carried out each time a new electronic mail isstored in the file apparatus 100. Instead, the conversion may be carriedout to the electronic mail to be downloaded immediately before theportable phone terminal 92 downloads the electronic mail.

[0083] It should be noted that the existing portable phone 92 can beused just as it is as the portable phone terminal with the electronicmail function. However, the word table like the word table 101 may beprovided. Also, a function may be provided to search the word tablebased on the pictograph specified by a cursor from the user to retrievethe word corresponding to the specified pictograph and to display theretrieved word on a display area 72, as shown in FIG. 8. In this case,the user can recognize the meaning of the displayed pictograph.

[0084] According to the second embodiment, the following effect isattained in addition to the effect in the first embodiment.

[0085] First, the first effect is in that it is possible to reduce thepossibility that the whole text of the electronic mail is not displayed.In the portable phone electronic mail system often defines the maximumelectronic mail length and the part of the electronic mail exceeding themaximum electronic mail length cannot be received on the side of theportable phone terminal. However, according to the present invention,the possibility to be against the limitation becomes low by previouslyconverting words into pictographs on the side of the mail server so thatthe number of the characters in the sentence can be reduced.

[0086] The second effect is in that the resource load and the processingload on the side of the portable phone terminal can be reduced. It isnot necessary to incorporate pictographs into the word table. Also, theconverting operation shown in the flow chart of FIG. 5 is not necessaryin case of electronic mail display.

[0087] The present invention is described using the embodiments.However, the present invention is not limited only to above embodimentsand various types of additional modifications are possible. For example,in each of the embodiments, a word is converted into the pictograph.However, the present invention is not limited to the conversion of theword into the pictograph. In the present invention, an optionalcharacter string may be converted into a pictograph. The optionalcharacter string includes a word, an idiom composed of plurality ofwords, a phrase, and a sentence. Also, the present invention may beapplied to a terminal of the English notation. In case of English, it isnecessary to newly provide a table storing correspondence relation of anEnglish word and a pictograph, because there is no system for Kana-Kanjiconversion. In the case of English, the conversion from the word intothe pictograph is easy because a word is separated from another word bya space.

[0088] As described above, the following effect is attained inaccordance with the present invention.

[0089] The contents of an electronic mail is easy to understand when theelectronic mail is read even if a display area is narrow. The reason isthat the words are converted into the pictographs in case of display ofthe electronic mail so that the characters in the whole sentence can bedecreased. Therefore, more data can be displayed in the narrow displayarea.

[0090] The original sentence can be immediately referred to in case ofpictograph display. The reason is that the original word before theconversion can be displayed when the user moves the cursor to theposition of the pictograph in the display state of the convertedelectronic mail.

[0091] It is not necessary to newly prepare a correspondence table ofthe word and the pictograph, by diverting the Kana-kanji conversiondictionary for adding a pictograph to the word table.

[0092] First, the first effect is in that it is possible to reduce thepossibility that the whole text of the electronic mail is not displayed.In the portable phone electronic mail system often defines the maximumelectronic mail length and the part of the electronic mail exceeding themaximum electronic mail length cannot be received on the side of theportable phone terminal. However, according to the present invention,the possibility to be against the limitation becomes low by previouslyconverting words into pictographs on the side of the mail server so thatthe number of the characters in the sentence can be reduced. Also,because the converting process to the word table and the pictograph onthe side of the terminal becomes unnecessary, there is an effect which aresource load and a processing load can be reduced on the side of theterminal.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of displaying an electronic mail,comprising: receiving an electric mail including a sentence as aconversion object sentence in a reception mode; automatically convertseach of character string into a pictograph in said reception mode toproduce a pictograph mixed sentence when said pictograph correspondingto said character string is defined: and displaying said pictographmixed sentence.
 2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:specifying one of said pictographs of the displayed pictograph mixedsentence; determining a specific character string corresponding to saidspecified pictograph; and displaying said specific character string. 3.The method according to claim 2, wherein said displaying includes:displaying said pictograph mixed sentence and said specific characterstring at a same time.
 4. The method according to claim 2, furthercomprising: inputting a sentence in a transmission mode; converting aspecified one of character strings of said inputted sentence a specificpictograph corresponding to said specified character string, to producea pictograph mixed inputted sentence; and displaying said pictographmixed inputted sentence.
 5. The method according to claim 4, furthercomprising: transmitting said pictograph mixed inputted sentence in saidtransmission mode.
 6. The method according to claim 5, wherein saidinputted sentence is a Kana sentence, said method further comprises:converting each of specified ones of Kana character strings of saidinputted sentence into Kanji characters in said transmission mode.